Eddie Dunbar came close to scoring his first pro win today when he made it in a two-man move all the way to the finish on the opening stage of Coppi e Bartali (2.1) in Italy.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider escaped the remains of the peloton on the final climb of the day and was later joined by Swiss 22-year-old Mauro Schmid (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl). It looked like they may be caught but they managed to hold off the pursuers, with Schmid taking the sprint for victory from Dunbar.
While the 25-year-old from Co Cork will be disappointed not to have turned the opportunity into a win, he was up against a fast finisher who won stage 11 of last year's Giro d'Italia in similar fashion.
However, the result shows Dunbar is in great form and the time he gained today on the other general classification men is very useful to him for the week ahead. He finished 14 seconds up on the peloton, which was whittled down to a large select group.
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Today's 164.6km stage, starting and finishing in Riccione, saw Dunbar go clear on the cat 2 Montefiore Conca, a 3km ascent with an average gradient of 9.5 per cent crested with about 25km to go to the finish.
The Irishman powered up the climb solo, taking the climbers' points at the top and putting clear daylight between himself and the bunch. The peloton blew to pieces in the wake of the Dunbar attack and numbered just 20 riders by the finish.
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While Dunbar lit up the race with his solo attack on the climb, Schmid managed to get away from the peloton just after the hill. He then flew down the descent and caught Ineos Grenadiers climber Dunbar with 20km to go.
They shared the workload to the finish, where Schmid was the clear winner; beating Dunbar by two seconds on the line. Behind the two leaders today, Dunbar's team mate Ethan Hayter won the sprint for 3rd place.
??@mauro_schmid of ??@qst_alphavinyl wins stage 1 of @gsemilia ??#CoppieBartali via @team_corratec pic.twitter.com/CiFiYUW9rC
— World Cycling Stats (@wcsbike) March 22, 2022
